It is the responsibility of the administrative officer in any organization to ensure that the company runs on a cost-effective process and viable solutions for process improvement. The case in this paper covered a period when I served as an administrative assistant. Therefore, I was obligated to ensure that the company was on a cost-effective and viable solution for process improvement and cost-saving measures that would, in turn, lead to a happy administration and maximized profits.
The company where I was working was made up of the Chief executive officer, deputy executive, and administrative assistant. In most companies, administration officials tend to be responsible for more than one job description. This was not different in my company, as most of the personalities had multiple job descriptions. This is because the company was struggling to reduce the number of employees to boost its net profits. In cases of work overload, the company could resolve by outsourcing employees to help. I was also obligated to dispatch the company drivers and obtain the necessary paperwork to bill the company clients once merchandise was delivered. This lot of work could take up a great deal of my time and energy.
But after rummaging around, I finally had a solution to the problem that could make everyone happy and also help the company reduce its operations costs. The company was spending a lot of money on day-to-day operations as it was still using the old paper method of record keeping. This led to high supply costs and record maintenance costs. In addition to that, record transfer was so slow, thus affecting the overall productivity of the company. Therefore, the only way to save the company was to come up with a decision that could help cut unnecessary costs and promote a faster workflow in the business. In addition to that, the company had to comply with all the government guidelines so as to avoid unnecessary lawsuits and consequential closures.
My first proposal was:
(Premise 1) Adopting and storing electronic documents could help reduce the company’s monthly operational and supply costs.
(Premise 2). The electronic storage, transfer, and receipt of documents are much faster across the company departments.
(Premise 3) The transition to electronic record-keeping satisfies all the guidelines set forth by the state to guide the operations of companies (Halpern, 2013).
To present my argument to my superiors, I had to do a lot of research regarding my idea and how it helps the company reduce its operational costs and comply with the regulations governing its operations. The best place to start with was how to reduce the costs spent on papers and filing folders. This could help the company comply with the DOT regulations. After completing my research on the papers and folders, I needed to be specific on the timeline required to shift to electronic data storage, and that made me contact a programmer who could help us with that. He gave us a six-month timeframe and the associated costs. I then presented in the form of a report to the chief executive officer. Attached to the report were the DOT guidelines and regulations on how records should be kept
(Conclusion 1) After the report was reviewed, it was found that the shift to electronic data storage would result in cutting down the quaternary supply budget by 3000.
(Conclusion 2) The shift will also bring about a swift transfer of documents, thus promoting a faster workflow as documents can be retrieved easily, thus maximizing productivity. (Conclusion 3) Through the shift, the company will be able to comply with all the regulations and guidelines set by the DOT.
The core reason why the decision to shift to an electronic data storage system was approved was that it was a more simplified system that provided the company with exactly what it needed. The workflow in the company increased by over 50%, and filing costs were reduced by 85%. The system was cost-effective and efficient, thus ensuring that the company maximized its productivity. For this essay, therefore, ‘Good’ can be defined as the process a person takes while trying to select the best and most reasonable choice from all the available options. In decision-making, a person should be able to analyze all the outcomes of making a certain decision and, therefore, be able to determine which option is the best for a specific situation (Mantere & Ketokivi, 2013).
Some factors had to be considered while making this business decision. Among them were the DOT guidelines and our company’s continuous auditing. Starting with inductive reasoning, the premises provided strong evidence and logic (Evans, 2013). Therefore, the conclusion of the decision was probable. There was enough evidence to support my premise. Deductive reasoning, on the other hand, was applied by the managers who are responsible for maintaining the company budget (Heracleous & Lan, 2012). I provided them with the idea that a shift to an electronic system of storing data could ease the workflow and decrease the costs of storage. The company found the business premise to be true. Clear and concise facts were presented. This led the management to adopt my decision to change the company’s storage system to an electronic system that could help ease document storage and transfer.
In most organizations, a job title matters a lot, especially if your decision is going to be considered. The role of an assistant, for example, could not have the same effect as that of someone higher in the job title. However, I was able to bypass the barriers in decision-making through the effective use of research, open communication and clear, articulate, quick delivery of information that was presented to be considered as a solution to an identified problem. The ability to think creatively and critically is key to the success of any business. Therefore, with my skills in critical and creative thinking, I was able to advance my ideas until the company adopted them. The company also took my decision to the next level, as drivers don’t have to be signed out manually. Instead, they could log in electronically, thus time and cost-effectiveness. Therefore, it is evident from the discussion above how inductive and deductive reasoning can help in making decisions in business and on a personal level.
References
Evans, J. S. B. (2013). The Psychology of Deductive Reasoning (Psychology Revivals). Psychology Press.
Halpern, D. F. (2013). Thought and knowledge: An introduction to critical thinking. Psychology Press.
Heracleous, L., & Lan, L. L. (2012). Agency theory, institutional sensitivity, and inductive reasoning: Towards a legal perspective. Journal of Management Studies, 49(1), 223-239.
Mantere, S., & Ketokivi, M. (2013). Reasoning in organization science. Academy of Management Review, 38(1), 70-89.
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